Broken Chains release their debut album, Light of the World.
Metal from Central America in English is not something I come across very often and Broken Chains look to be the first metal album sung in English from Honduras, Tegucigalpa specifically. Guitarist Rob Robbie started the band back in 2020, building on his 15 years of experience in other metal bands in Honduras. For now, Broken Chains is a studio project of Robbie who worked with producer Herber Alonzo and brought in Eduardo Ramirez for vocals and Luis Montesi (tsidkenu) on drums.
Getting new bands is always a cool thing, especially when a band is pretty far removed from where your music usually comes from. Groove metal with some melodic and acoustic elements is pretty much the only description I had to go off before hitting the play button in this case. The track “Broken Chains” opens up with a pounding drum rhythm that builds and is joined by guitars. A good, heavy riff kicks off and the track is off and rolling. In this case we have an instrumental with a couple different guitar parts layered in and pretty heavy track in general. Production quality is good and primarily just guitars and bass in this particular track. The song settles into a nice groove with some fast drums keeping pace, setting up for an extended guitar solo, which has a good bit of melody to it as well taking the place of vocals. I like the raw edge to it all.
“Promise” is the next track and it too quickly settles into a nice groove. Eduardo Ramirez supplies vocals for this track and starts out with gravelly, shouted death metal styled vocals that eventually lead into a clean chorus. Overall, I’m not a big fan of the vocals in the song and that may just be something with the tone of the clean vocals that bother me. Robbie adds some good solo guitar work to the track that I do like a lot. The solo is a bit on the extended side but fits well within the song and composition. Again, the touch of rawness to the solo really makes it shine.
“Your Will” opens up with heavy, fast riff and some good layered guitar over the top and sounds a lot like something you may have heard in the late 90s. For this song Ramirez vocals again are on the ragged side but less screamed than in “Promise” and seem to fit better to me. Overall, I like the song and the Christian message of the band comes through clear. Robbie shows some restraint again in parts of the guitar solo which shows some maturity on the composition side of things.
As if to give the listeners a bit of a reprieve from the heaviness, the acoustic “Fidelity” is next and is really a beautiful song with some backing keyboards providing atmosphere.
“Massevot” is one of the more adventurous songs on the album beginning with some ominous keyboards and what could be celtic pipes in the intro. Once the song really gets moving another strong riff takes center stage. This track again, I’m not a fan of the vocals and some of the compositions seems to go in odd directions that don’t seem to work for me.
“The Time of the End” has some atmospheric keyboards providing a backdrop for an extended guitar solo opening that I really like and reminds me of a lot of older guitar-driven metal bands from the past. I’m thinking of bands all the way back to the mid-70s but with an updated, modern sound and tone. Ramirez vocals on this track seem to fit better and are mostly ragged-edge screaming. Toward the middle there seems to be a section setting up for the solo that may stretch a bit. The solo itself again is impressive.
“I Am” gets back to a heavy groove that gallops along at a good pace from the start until settling into a pummeling rhythm for the verse sections that could be reminiscent of Lamb of God and other bands. Ramirez vocals work well with the heaviness and the groove in the track contrasts well with the staccato nature of the verse sections. To me, this track also highlights the drum work from Luis Montesi. From the double bass faster sections to the slower pummeling verse sections, the drum work stands out in this track as well.
For a first release and largely a solo effort with guitarist Rob Robbie writing and performing, Broken Chains have a release to be proud of and one that shows a good bit of promise. With Eduardo Ramirez and Luis Montesi, Robbie has a solid start for a full-time band if that is the direction. For me, some of tracks went in directions that I didn’t think fit very well and there were some awkward transitions but overall this is an album with some solid groove metal. I look forward to hearing more from Broken Chains.
Rating: 6.5/10
Written by John Jackson
Tracklist
- Broken Chains
- Promise
- Your Will
- Fidelity
- Massevot
- The Time of the End
- I Am
Band Members
Rob Robbie – guitars
Eduardo Ramirez – vocals
Luis Montesi – drums
Release Date: Jan. 9th. 2023
Record Label: Independent
Social Media Links: Facebook / Instagram / Fanlink
Video for “Light of the World” (teaser)
